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Month / February 2013

Yesterday I received a letter to tell me that we were successful in our Grants for the Arts funding bid for the Northern Voluntary Jazz Promoters Network. We were awarded the full amount we requested and this will enable us to provide training roadshows for all Northern promoters over the next few months.

I became a part of the network last year, initially as to represent HEART. I arrived at a time of big changes to the funding structure for venues and there was a lot of uncertainty in where to go next. At the first meeting I attended, I volunteered to be part of a steering group which would put together a bid to enable the network to move forward and take positive steps toward sustainability without their previous funding. Being new to all of this, it has been wonderful to work alongside people so knowledgeable in this area – together with Steve Mead, Steve Crocker and Jez Matthews, we spent a number of months working on the bid (and a plan for what the bid would fund!) which we finally submitted just before Christmas.

This grant is great news for Jazz in the North and I’m privileged to be a part of it. The real work starts now though – we need to make these roadshows happen.